‘Spencer’s Invincibles’

“Those who know Thos Spencer, know that the ‘gallant captain’ does not do things by halves, and he deserves no small meed of praise for the manner in which the celebration was carried through.”

“The ‘Invincibles’ are a fixed fact, are regularly called out on drill, and will be kept ‘in position,’ till the storm now hanging over the Union has blown over, and bright skies again appear.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 25, 1861)

“A company of infantry has been tendered to the Government from the Hawaiian Islands, and accepted. It consists of American emigrants and native Hawaiians. It is expected to come as soon as the news of acceptance is received.”

“This is the celebrated company of ‘Spencer’s Invincibles’ at Hilo, which is under the leadership of its gallant Captain and experienced aid ‘the orderly,’ is said to have arrived at a degree of perfection in military tactics, that throws the ‘regulars’ into the shade.”

“All the company now wants is a chance of a shot at Jeff. Davis’ bloodhounds. A patriotic master of a whaleship intends, we learn, to place his vessel at the disposal of the corps.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 24, 1861)

“Thomas Spencer came from a distinguished New England family that had been established at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, since 1660, when its ancestor, John Spencer, had been among the founders of the town.”

“Joseph Spencer, Thomas’s father, was a ship’s captain, and his eight sons followed him to sea, five becoming captains of whaling ships at the same time. Aged thirty-one and captain of the whaleship Triton, one of the Howland fleet out of New Bedford, Thomas Spencer was in 1848 involved in one of the most notable sagas in the South Seas whale fishery.”

“Having made landfall off Sydenham Island in the Kingsmill Group, Captain Spencer and some of the crew were lured ashore by a renegade castaway who, with the assistance of the natives, detained them on shore, seized the ship, murdered a number of the remaining crew, convinced the survivors that their captain was dead, and obliged them to sail the ship away.”

“Held prisoner on shore, Captain Spencer was about to be executed by the natives when he was rescued by the dramatic invention of a woman chief, in the manner of Pocahontas.”

“After a number of attempts to escape, during which the hapless captain and crew stole canoes and paddled out to sea in pursuit of passing ships who set sail away as fast as they could, believing them to be hostile islanders, the castaways were rescued by the Alabama out of Nantucket.”

“Captain Spencer then made his way to Honolulu, which he had visited on previous voyages, to await reports of the still-missing Triton. Deciding at length to give up the sea, he started a ship’s chandlery on Queen Street, which under his guidance served as the headquarters of the Pacific whaling fleet.”

“In 1853 he was joined by his brother, Charles Nichols Spencer, and by 1855 William L Lee, the close friend of Charles R Bishop, reported that Captain Spencer was ‘making more money than anyone else in town.’”

“Thomas Spencer embodied many of the Yankee virtues, notably industry, enterprise, and patriotism, but his love for the Islands surpassed that of his birthplace.”

“He was committed to the survival of Hawai’i as an independent kingdom, and he was an arch opponent of annexation. Yankee reserve found no place in his robust character, fulsome manner, and great personal warmth, nor did Yankee frugality, for his generosity was legendary.”

“He was fluent in Hawaiian and was known everywhere by his Hawaiian name, Poonahoahoa. It was later to be said of him, and of his brother Charles, that ‘they were on terms of social and political intimacy with the last six Hawaiian sovereigns.’”

“In 1861, in the full tide of success, Thomas Spencer sold the Queen Street chandlery and moved to Hilo, purchasing the house and sugar plantation at Amauulu (Puueo) of Benjamin Pitman, whose wife, Kinoole-o-Liliha, was the hereditary high chiefess of Hilo.”

“In Hilo, he removed stones from the luakini heiau on the shore opposite Coconut Island (Mokuola) to make a boat landing near the mouth of the Wailoa River, an uncharacteristic act that some believe cast a shadow over his subsequent endeavors on the island. He also became United States commercial agent and consul at Hilo.”

“For the next twenty-three years, Thomas Spencer struggled to achieve success in sugar planting, but the venture was to prove disastrous, and while the plantation continued to operate, by the time of his death it had consumed nearly all of his fortune.”

“Thomas Spencer had been made a Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I for his actions in sending, at his own expense, boats filled with food to relieve Big Island inhabitants faced with starvation when they had been cut off by a lava flow.” (O’Connor)

And, ‘Spencer’s Invincibles?’ – The Hawaiian government disbanded the group, but the monarchy could not stop others from joining the fray. (Smith; NY Times)

When reminded that Hawai‘i took a neutral position on the Civil War, Spencer was purported to have burst into tears of despair for not having the opportunity to serve. (NPS)

With the eruption of the Civil War in 1861, King Kamehameha IV declared a neutral stance but held largely Unionist sympathies – as did the majority of people living in Hawai‘i. The country had deep ties to the expanding United States and war with the South enabled Hawaii to fill part of the void left by the absence of then blockaded southern exports.

Sugar and other products once exported by the newly-formed Confederacy was confined thanks to the establishment of the Union naval blockade on southern ports. Hawaiian-grown sugar soon replaced much of this southern sugar through the duration of the conflict.

Because of this boom in business, the majority of Americans living and working on the islands were devoutly pro-Unionist. In fact, many living in Hawaii had an ardent desire to serve in the armed forces.

Nevertheless, the nation’s neutrality did not prevent many of its citizens from enlisting in either Union or Confederate forces. (NPS)

Comments

Hello,
My name is J Scott Brewster great grandson, Thomas Spencer. My Face Book page
“Spencer Family of Hawaii with Makaleka K Robinson” and my closed site “Spencer Family”.
My research has blessed me with original scanned documents written by Kamehameha III, IV & V.
Specifically, the purchase and or lease contracts between Benjamin Pitman 1847 – 1857 and
Thomas Spencer 1860 – 1884. Dr. Kaori O’Connor is my cousin.
Would like to share these documents.

Our mission statement:
Aloha and welcome to the Spencer site, where we are exploring part of Hawaii’s lost history, and bringing our family back together. History, as they say, is written by the winners – and much has been left out of the official histories of the islands, compiled by those who wrested it from the monarchy. Our ancestors, Captain Thomas Spencer and his brother Charles were dedicated supporters of the Kingdom and the royal family. Captain Tom, as he was known, was a close personal friend of rulers and ali’i, and Charles served as Minister of the Interior under King Kalakaua and then under Queen Liliuokalani. Both brothers were known for their concern for the well being and future of the Hawaiian people. When the Kingdom fell, so did our family. In the new post-annexation Hawaii, royalists and loyalists like the Spencer’s were inconvenient persons – the younger generations were pushed to the side lines, scattered and encouraged to forget the Kingdom, the older ones and their adventures and accomplishments were erased from history. You will find little about the Spencer’s in official histories, and yet they – and others like them – played an important part in the Kingdom, and left a legacy that continues today. The lands we once owned now belong to others, fortunes made were lost long ago, but the Spencer story is inscribed on the landscape if you know where to look, and the enduring inheritance for all of us is to be part of the living history of our beloved islands, and most of all part of our family, our ohana.
This site is in its early days. In the first stages, documents relating to family history will be posted, and cousins will be encouraged to share their own memories and whatever family records they may have. Many are already on the site, and as time goes on, we will put together an on-going narrative of the Spencer’s including Thomas and Charles’s brother Obadiah, and also what we know of the Hawaiian side of our family, through our ancestress Makaleka Robinson, the Captain’s partner, whose father Robert Robinson lived on the Hamakua coast with his Hawaiian wife. And we will include information on the New England background of the Spencer brothers. This site is a lei of love, to hold us and our ancestors together. Please join us and share. Mahalo.

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